Dark Legacy
by Eveshka
Summary: Legacy: A birthright to be claimed. But what if that which was left was best left unclaimed...? A Dark Legacy...?
1. Prologue

Dark Legacy - Prologue

**Dark Legacy**   
**Prologue**

  


She never thought that she'd ever see this day.   
She never thought that she'd be closing the door on an old friend first.   
She'd always figured that she'd be the one to go first, one reckless act or another sending her into the peaceful sleep of eternity.   
Not him.   
Never him. 

The sorceress stood silent, dressed in black, tears falling down her cheeks as she supported the openly sobbing princess of Saillune. The entire white capital of Saillune was in mourning, shrouds of black swathed across the palace as if a state official had died.   
But it had been worse than a simple state official. 

The cleric watched the two from a distance, unable to approach either the sorceress or the princess. She'd failed in the most essential duties of one entrusted with healing magic; how could she possibly face them? Her hands had lost the life of a friend and a companion. The ever-calm sad eyes turned away, and the cleric walked resolutely out of the church. 

Violet eyes watched the proceedings dispassionately. How… pathetic. Didn't they understand? Apparently not… but now, who was he to tell them? 

Blue eyes watched quietly, emotions held at bay by strength of will alone. He'd have to be strong for those three, he knew that. All of the responsibility fell to him now, wanted or not. His eyes narrowed as the priest spoke. It was time. 

"And we now return to Cepheid one who lived in his service: Zelgadis Greywords…" 

The pealing of the mourning bell drowned out the further words of the priest as Lina watched the solemn faces of the clerics as they moved towards the coffin. Before she could stop herself, she'd stepped away from Amelia and issued a quiet negation to the men who were about to take up the coffin.   
"No. This should be… done by his friends."   
Her senses told her that Gourry was behind her, and she saw Amelia out of the corner of her eye lift her head and look across to Lina.   
The priest nodded as the three approached the coffin and with the aid of Lina's silent levitation spell, picked it up with ease. A distant part of Lina's mind noticed that Sylphiel was missing, but that would be worked on later. For now… for now…   
They carried the coffin out of the church and towards the royal burial grounds, where Price Philionel had decreed Zelgadis be buried. 

Sylphiel heard the mourning bell begin to peal, and lifted her head. The drink that she had ordered was there, and she picked it up and lifted it to her lips in a silent salute to her fallen friend and her own failure in keeping him alive. Before the bartender could stop her, she threw the drink back. The alcohol burned her throat as it went down, and she found the pain somewhat soothing. In a rough voice, she ordered another and looked out the window towards the palace. 

When it was over, Lina still couldn't believe it.   
She sat in the chair beside Amelia, who had crumpled on her bed, and looked off into the distance.   
Zelgadis.   
Dead.   
It was impossible… right?   
He'd told her five years ago that the only thing that could hurt him was the Sword of Light. And yet… that hadn't been true.   
She sat there; listening to Amelia sob, her own tears silent as she remembered.   



	2. Chapter One

Dark Legacy - Chapter One

**Dark Legacy**   
**Chapter One**

  


"Zelgadis Greywords, I swear that if I die in this, I'm going to come and haunt you for the rest of your life!!!"   
The chimera, of course, paid little attention to the ranting of the sorceress. Lina Inverse ranted all the time. End of story. He was more concerned with the potential cure that lay on the other size of this large cavern. He didn't even pay attention to the chest-high mud that he was slogging through.   
Lina and Amelia were a lot shorter than Zelgadis and Gourry. As a result, the mud was considerably closer to their chins, and Lina was letting everyone have it. "For crying out loud, Zel… can't you find a cure near a nice sunny beach instead of a cavern that's so short we have to walk through mud that's up to our chins?"   
"It isn't up to my chin, Lina…" Gourry started, but a well-aimed ball of mud smacked into the back of his head, interrupting. "Ow!"   
"Miss Lina… don't you think that sometimes the things worth finding aren't easy to get to?" Sylphiel asked, picking her way daintily through the mud, wrinkling her nose in distaste, even though the mud was up to her shoulders. "Although I have to agree that this mud is cold and it's getting harder to work through it… but I'm not complaining!" She forced a cheerful smile. "See? I could enjoy this…"   
Amelia looked back at Sylphiel with a sweatdrop as Lina brought her hands together, muttering under her breath. Zelgadis' hearing picked up the spell, and as he turned to stop her, she called it. "Vigarthagaia!"   
"Lina…! No!!!" Zelgadis shouted, albeit too late.   
The spell flared away from her, splitting the mud clear to the stone floor of the cavern. For approximately three seconds, it was two visually impressive walls of mud rolling up on either side of them.   
And then the effects of the spell faded and the mud fell back in.   
The force of the mud hitting them swept them all off of their feet and they were caught up in a swelling mud tide that carried them through a hole that Lina's spell had punched in the far wall, upending them repeatedly until the wild ride came to a stop in a totally different group of caverns.   
Lina landed on her back, thinking that perhaps that wasn't the best course of action, but it was over and done with now, wasn't it? And there wasn't any more mud…   
"LINA!!!!!" Zelgadis roared in irritation as he tumbled to a halt along with the rest of the group, not too far away. He stood, dripping mud, but intent on getting to Lina before she could cast another spell that might have equally disastrous results.   
Lina looked over, seeing Zelgadis approaching, covered from head to foot in mud. Without giving it much thought, she clapped her hands together. "Aqua Create!"   
Any objections and intents that the chimera might have had were suddenly drowned in the deluge of water that washed down over the cavern.   
When the water stopped falling, the mud was cleared off of them, and they were now only wet instead of wet and muddy. But Zelgadis wasn't amused. He was stomping about, shaking water out of various things that had been in his pockets. "Of all the recklessly stupid things to do, you cast a Vigarthagaia spell down here in a network of caverns that you haven't mapped, get us swept into Cepheid knows where, and then try to drown us!!" He turned to glare at her, water pouring out of the boot that he had just pulled off of his foot. "What were you thinking?!"   
Lina had the grace to blush. "Well… we aren't muddy anymore…" She tapped her fingers together, trying to think of a way out of the mess that she had inadvertently caused.   
"We aren't muddy anymore?! Is that all you have to say??" Zelgadis snarled, advancing on the redhead.   
As Lina took several steps backwards in surprise, Amelia grabbed Zelgadis from behind, wrapping herself around his arm. "Mister Zelgadis, don't be mad at Miss Lina! She was only trying to help you!"   
Lina continued to back up and away from the irate chimera. _Man! Who got up on the wrong side of the campfire this morning! I've never seen him in such a lousy mood!_   
Zelgadis walked up to Lina, and for an uncomfortable moment, Lina wasn't one hundred percent certain of what was going to happen. The unmistakable sound of a hand falling to sword hilt echoed slightly in the cavern, and Lina realized with a jolt that Gourry had just made it completely clear where he stood.   
With Amelia still clinging to him, Zelgadis bent to look at Lina eye-to-eye. "Don't ever do that again." Before Lina could react, he shrugged himself free of Amelia and stalked back towards the hole that they had come through in the mudflow.   



	3. Chapter Two

Dark Legacy - Chapter Two

**Dark Legacy**   
**Chapter Two**

  


Silently the others followed the chimera. At length, they came to the room where Lina had cast the Vigarthagaia spell and returned to the original path of traveling.   
As they passed through a set of archways, the little group entered what looked to be a temple that had fallen underground in an earthquake. As Lina and Amelia looked around, Zelgadis stopped and made preparations for camping the evening there.   
Lina wasn't quite ready to settle in for the night, so she took the opportunity to slip off, saying that she wanted to make sure that the area was more or less safe. In reality, she wanted some time away. The incident earlier and Zelgadis' reaction… well, to be quite honest, it scared her. She'd seen Zelgadis angry before, but never quite that angry with her.   
He was right, though. She shouldn't have just thrown around that much magic without thought. She could have caused a cave-in. Reckless and stupid, Zelgadis had said. Well… that was about right, wasn't it?   
She sat down on a ledge, letting her feet dangle out over the next ledge and contemplated the natural steps created by the ledges. What if they led somewhere? There seemed to be a pattern to them…   
"What are you doing?"   
Lina looked up from her contemplation of the rock steps to see Zelgadis standing there, arms folded. He still looked irritated. She sighed and stood, looking to him. "Look, Zel… about earlier… you're right. I shouldn't have cast the Vigarthagaia. Especially when I've only just learned to control it." She looked away, back towards where the stones led. "I really… appreciate you teaching me the earth shaman spells… but maybe… maybe I should stay away from it for now. We all have our strengths and weaknesses, right? Maybe earth magic is my weakness."   
"It's not your weakness. Vigarthagaia wasn't the right spell to use. What you should have done was reverse the Bogardic Elm spell," he replied quietly.   
She turned to look at him in surprise. "Reverse the Bogardic Elm? But…" It dawned on her how she could have done it, and she flushed, feeling like a first-level guild applicant again. "Oh no… I guess I overdid it again, huh?"   
"A little," he conceded. "And about earlier. I apologize for losing my temper. There are… reasons that higher-level magic shouldn't be used here." Now he was looking away from her.   
"Hey," Lina replied arily, looking off for a moment to see Amelia standing in the archway behind Zelgadis. "After that, I daresay I deserved it. But…" she looked back to him. "I admit that I wasn't sure what you were going to do. For a moment…" She shivered. "Zel… is everything… okay?"   
His jaw hardened, and she blinked. "Zel…?"   
"I'll take first watch tonight, Lina. I'll wake you when it's your turn," he said, the tone of finality ringing in his voice. It was clear that she wasn't to argue with him.   
She blinked again, and then saw over his shoulder that Amelia had ventured into earshot. _Ah… he doesn't want her to know something. But what, I wonder…? Eh… he'll tell me eventually. Amelia can't hang onto him all the time._ She nodded and looked across at Amelia. "Amelia! I can't believe that you're leaving Gourry in there with all the food! He won't leave any for us!!" And with that hastily crafted excuse, Lina darted for the other room, leaving a baffled Amelia staring at Zelgadis.   
"Um… Mister Zelgadis… are you… hungry?" Amelia asked as Lina vanished into the room where camp had been made.   
"I'm fine, Amelia. Go get some rest. Tomorrow will be a very long day."   
With a sigh, Amelia turned and returned to the camp. 

In the middle of the night, Lina woke to find that Zelgadis was still on watch. Leaving her sword and cloak behind, she tiptoed out to where he sat, and sat beside him. "So what was it that you didn't want Amelia to hear earlier, Zel?"   
He hadn't looked over when she walked up, but she knew that he'd noticed her. And without looking her way, he replied. "This set of stones leads down to another of Rezo's laboratories. Only… this one…" His voice trailed off.   
"This one?" Lina prompted.   
"This one was where he did his research and testing. I don't know what we'll find in here. There are some… things… that may yet be… alive."   
"Things?" she echoed.   
"Things." He replied solemnly. "Not all of his experiments were successes. And not all of the failures were fatal."   
"Oh." Lina swallowed. "Um… Zel… are you sure we should be here…?"   
"You don't have to be here. But I must. I need to know…" he answered.   
"To know what?" Lina asked, looking down the steps with a shiver.   
"To know what is left."   
Lina didn't like the sound of that at all.   



	4. Chapter Three

Dark Legacy - Chapter Three

**Dark Legacy**   
**Chapter Three**

  


Lina opened her eyes and looked to the girl thrown across the bed. The princess' sobs had given way to the exhausted sleep that comes when a soul is filled with despair. The sorceress quietly stood and pulled a blanket over Amelia's sleeping form, and then turned to leave the room.   
If it was one thing that Lina didn't always like about being the one unifying factor of the little group, it was that she was considered the leader. And sometimes being the leader wasn't all it was cracked up to be. Right now was one of those times. She had to be strong for Amelia, supporting the girl as she struggled to work through the fact that Zelgadis was gone. And now that Amelia was sleeping… she had to find Sylphiel. She had to find out why Sylphiel wasn't there.   
Lina didn't have time to work through her own emotions.   
She'd store them away for a later time and go through them then.   
Maybe.   
Lina wasn't good at showing her emotions, unless she was blowing things up. 

The redhead had no sooner stepped out of the palace than someone touched her cape. "Miss Inverse?"   
She spun on her heel, glaring daggers at him in reflex. "What?" she snapped, unintentionally.   
He let go of her cloak, taking a step backwards. "I'm sorry to bother you…"   
"Then don't. I have to find someone. Excuse me." Her voice was tense, the phrases curt and abrupt. She was still too upset. She made a valiant effort to bottle it up within her, moving away from the stranger.   
"Sylphiel nels Rada… is in that bar there, if you seek her," came the voice, and Lina spun to look at the man who only shrugged, pointed to the bar, and then turned away. 

The bar wasn't too bad as far as bars go… the floors were surprisingly clean, the bar surfaces shiny and clear. Lina suspected the royal family visited this one frequently, but the raven-tressed maiden sitting on the barstool with her head in her hands caught her attention. As Lina's eyes caught on the empty glass beside Sylphiel's elbow, the sorceress' troubles faded into the back of her mind, and she walked quietly up to Sylphiel. "Sylphiel?"   
The cleric looked up and over, blue eyes spilled over with tears. For a moment, she held Lina's gaze, and then she looked to her glass, picking it up and finding it empty. In a low voice, she asked the bartender for another drink, passing over the glass before looking back to Lina. "Hello, Miss Lina." Sylphiel's voice was low, choked with as yet unspent tears.   
Lina sat on the barstool beside Sylphiel and looked at the girl for a moment. As she did so, the drink that Sylphiel had ordered came, and the cleric tossed it back without hesitation. Lina's eyes widened, and she felt herself choke in sympathy. "Sylphiel… where'd you learn to drink like that?"   
Sylphiel looked at the empty glass in her hand. She thought about it for a moment, and then looked at Lina as she set the glass down. "About three drinks ago."   
Lina fell over onto the bar. "Sylphiel…"   
Sylphiel lowered her head, her hair falling over her eyes. "What is there to say, Miss Lina. We all went through it together. You know what happened just as well as I do."   
Lina looked to Sylphiel. "But I don't think that there are any answers in this bar, Sylphiel. Especially not in that glass, empty or full."   
Sylphiel looked off into the distance through her hair. "Perhaps you are right, Miss Lina. But it is all that I have right now. I am a healer… a follower of Cepheid… and yet… I cannot even save the life of a friend."   
Lina sighed. She still didn't know all of the details of what had transpired when Sylphiel had drawn the magic of Cepheid to her hands. She was hesitant to ask Sylphiel right now… and yet, somehow she knew that if she didn't ask, she might never find out. "Sylphiel… what happened? Will you tell me?"   
Sylphiel looked up, ordering another drink. The bartender looked at her for a moment, then shrugged and took the glass. Lina hoped that the bartender had the sense to water the drinks before handing them to Sylphiel. She'd never seen the cleric so much as look at a drink before… and there was no telling what a drunk Sylphiel would be like. But her train of thought paused when Sylphiel turned back to her.   
"If you're going to sit with me, you may as well have a drink. That way, we can talk it out properly." She turned, ordering a second drink and making it clear that it was for Lina.   
Lina sighed. She'd grown up in the heart of the best wine country in the world. She didn't want to tell Sylphiel that her tolerance for alcohol was so high that drinking was generally pointless to her. But if she acted… played the part… for Sylphiel's sake… "Sure," Lina said. "Get me a drink and we'll talk." 


	5. Chapter Four

Dark Legacy - Chapter Four

**Dark Legacy**   
**Chapter Four**

  
  


When Sylphiel woke up in the cave, she noticed right away that Lina and Zelgadis were missing. Afraid that Zelgadis had taken off in the night, and Lina had followed him, she rose and dressed quickly, completely missing the fact that Lina's cape and sword were by the sorceress' bedroll.   
She took off for the archway that led deeper into the caverns, calling out their names. "Miss Lina! Mister Zelgadis…!" The two people in concern looked over from a discussion, and Sylphiel came to a halt, blushing. "Oh no… I'm sorry… I…"   
Zelgadis put up a hand. "Hold on, Sylphiel. Lina, release the spell."   
Lina, obviously holding a spell in her hands, looked over to the cleric, and then turned, opening her hands and allowing the energy to free itself from her grasp. "Grey Bomb!" A small section of the ground nearby exploded in a miniature earthquake.   
Lina grinned. "Got it!!"   
Zelgadis nodded, folding his arms. "What I don't understand is how you learned the Dill Brand without learning the Grey Bomb."   
Lina waved it off with her hand. "Eh… that's a story for another time, Zel." She looked over to Sylphiel, who was watching with wide eyes. "What's wrong, Sylphiel?"   
Sylphiel looked from Lina, to the small hole in the ground, and then to Zelgadis. "I woke up… and you both were gone… I was afraid that something had happened…"   
Zelgadis hid his irritation. He didn't always take off on his own. He hadn't done that for a while now…   
Lina put her hands together, lacing her fingers and raising her arms up over her head as she stretched. "Nothing but a magic lesson… which I failed to get the first time through. Is everyone awake, Sylphiel?"   
Sylphiel nodded, and at Gourry's call, the three turned to see the blonde swordsman and the diminutive princess looking towards them from the archway. With a cheerful holler, Lina took off towards them. "Yay! Breakfast!!!"   
Sylphiel laughed as she followed Lina. "You're doing the cooking, Miss Lina!"   
Zelgadis' shoulders slumped. This was the biggest disadvantage of traveling with people. One or another of them always wanted to eat. Cobalt eyes turned to the door hidden at the bottom of the steps. Time to go off on his own… he turned, moving down the steps towards the door.   
A slipper came flying out of nowhere and bounced off of his back. "Damnit, Zelgadis! Can't I eat breakfast without you trying to run off on us?" Lina hollered from the archway where she had sent the slipper flying. Amelia stared at the redhead, still trying to comprehend where the slipper had come from. Lina's hand had been empty…   
The chimera sighed again, turning back to see Lina standing up there with her hands on her hips. As he moved back up the stone steps, he tried to decide if having friends who cared was an advantage, or a disadvantage. 

"So you're saying there could be some nasty things down here," Lina looked at Zelgadis over her breakfast. "Well… what else is new? Come on, Zel… We've fought Shabranigdo, Zanaffar, Dark Star…" She paused, even though she knew that what they might encounter would be a product of Shabranigdo's magic. "What could we possibly run into that we can't overcome as a group?"   
Zelgadis looked at her. While she had a point, he didn't really wish to concede so easily. "You shouldn't get involved. This isn't your fight."   
Lina grinned at Zelgadis as she finished her breakfast. "Maybe not. But you're our friend. That makes it, at least, my fight."   
"Mine too!" Amelia piped up, but then, that didn't surprise Lina or Zelgadis one bit. Amelia had a tendency to join in any cause that both Lina and Zelgadis were taking.   
"I will make it mine as well. If we are going to be fighting unknown enemies, then the services of a healer will most likely be needed. Besides," Sylphiel continued as she pulled a rather large book from her cloak and put it in her lap with a thud. "I can enter them into my lexicon of creatures. I'm hoping that as soon as I have catalogued eight thousand individual species and all relative subspecies, I can publish my work and be able to fund a happy life for Gourry dear so that he doesn't have to wander all over the world in order to make money!"   
Everyone except Gourry and Sylphiel fell over. Gourry blinked at Sylphiel. "Wow. That's a really big book. What is it for?"   
Sylphiel facefaulted. "Mister Gourry! It's for your happiness!"   
Gourry scratched his head. "But… I am happy…" He looked at Lina, who was sitting up and brushing the dust off. "Aren't I, Lina?"   
Lina stood and fastened her cape. "Let's go, guys. There's a cure to be found, a cave to be mapped…" she looked at Sylphiel for a moment, watching the girl put the book away. "And a lexicon to be amended…" 


	6. Chapter Five

Dark Legacy - Chapter Five

**Dark Legacy**   
**Chapter Five**

  
  


The little group stood at the doorway hidden in the wall at the foot of the natural stone steps. Lina and Zelgadis, of course weren't surprised to see it. They had spoken at length about what was behind that door, and while Lina felt a certain unease at opening the door, she also knew that they'd come too far to just turn back now.   
Cracking her knuckles, she looked to Zelgadis. "Okay, Zel. So how do we open the door? An Unlock spell? A good old-fashioned Fireball?"   
Zelgadis looked at her for a moment, and then reached out and turned the handle on the door, opening it. "No. We just open the door and walk in."   
When the group recovered, Lina cast a lighting spell and they entered the room beyond. 

The room was silent and the air was deathly still. They walked through, aided by Lina's spell, reaching the other door and passing through it without any difficulties.   
As they filed into the new larger room, Zelgadis warned them all. "Don't get too far apart. This is one of Rezo's old labs… and we can't know what is in here."   
As if in answer to Zelgadis' warnings, a low growl could be heard in the not too far distance. Amelia grabbed at the nearest person, who happened to be Lina. "What… was that?"   
Lina pulled her arm away from Amelia, looking over at Zelgadis pointedly while answering the princess. "It sounded like some sort of growling to me, Amelia." When the princess shifted her grip so that she still held onto Lina, the sorceress looked at the girl in exasperation. "Amelia, will you get off? It's probably no uglier than we've seen before." Her eyes drifted past Zelgadis and she blinked. "Actually… we've seen it before."   
Zelgadis turned around, eyes widening as the shape came out of the shadows. Dark green of skin, with the face and shape of a werewolf, the creature was wearing leather armor that had seen better days. "Dilgear…"   
"You had to come back sooner or later, Zelgadis. And now that you're back, I can finally finish the job that Lord Rezo gave me." Dilgear grinned with an evil glint in his eyes.   
Lina brought her hands together. "One wrong move, troll-brain, and you'll get to join Rezo, permanently."   
Amelia and Sylphiel looked at the creature, then to Lina and Zelgadis.   
Gourry scratched his head, and then stepped forwards with his finger pointed upwards. "Hey! I remember you! You're that guy that I had to fight with the other guy! Now what was his name…?" All eyes swung disbelievingly to Gourry as he frowned in thought, scratching his chin. "Ramidus? Ramesis?"   
"Rodimus," Zelgadis said quietly, looking back at Dilgear.   
Gourry nodded. "Yeah! Him!" There was a pause as the light in Gourry's intelligence went out. "Whatever happened to him, anyway…"   
Zelgadis cringed, and Lina leapt up to hit Gourry on the top of his head with her fist. "You idiot! Have you forgotten everything?" When she landed, she turned to Dilgear, cracking her knuckles. "Hey, Zel… let me have him? I still owe you one from that, after all…"   
Almost everyone looked at Lina in surprise. Amelia's lower lip trembled as she had to ask the delicate question. "You owe him one, Miss Lina…?" 

Zelgadis' blush didn't help the princess' concern any.   
Dilgear took the opportunity to leap for Zelgadis, blade drawn, as Zelgadis turned to see the incoming attack.   
Lina reached out and caught Amelia by the collar as the justice-loving princess started to move towards Zelgadis. "Wait, Amelia," she hissed. "He can't hurt Zel like that."   
Sure enough, as Lina spoke, Amelia, Sylphiel, and Gourry watched Dilgear's blade shatter against the stone skin of the chimera.   
As Zelgadis stepped away from Dilgear, Lina moved forwards, her blade drawn. "It's my turn, Dilgear."   
Dilgear sneered at her. "You haven't grown any since we met last. In fact… you still have no chest!"   
Amelia and Gourry had the sense to cringe. Zelgadis sighed and hung his head while Sylphiel frowned. "For the sake of all under-endowed females in the world, let him have it, Miss Lina!"   
The statement, coming from Sylphiel, was enough to bring Lina to a screeching halt as she looked back at the cleric. Zelgadis, Amelia, and Gourry all facefaulted in unison. Dilgear banked on that distraction, launching himself at Lina. The sorceress saw him out of the corner of her eye, thinned her lips in preparation, and as Dilgear landed on her, her blade slipped out of her hand, clattering on the floor. A Raywing spell snapped into place in a sphere around the two, and lifted them into the air.   
Suddenly, the interior of the Raywing sphere lit in a brilliant reddish-orange that was unmistakably a fireball of impressive magnitude.   
But where was Lina?   
  



	7. Chapter Six

Dark Legacy - Chapter Six

**Dark Legacy**   
**Chapter Six**

  


Breathless seconds passed as they watched, waiting for the fire inside the sphere to fade. As the sphere drifted down, they saw Lina standing on top of the outside of it, looking down into the destruction. "Now that's a little trick that I borrowed from Zelgadis." The Raywing faded, allowing Dilgear to tumble out, and stand as Lina addressed him from mid-air. "So I'll make you a deal, Dilgear. You go away and leave us alone, or I finish the job right here and now."   
The extremely roasted Dilgear looked up at Lina. "I'll give. I'll give! But you don't want to be down here. Don't say I didn't warn you!" He turned and ran from the room, headed out to the network of caverns beyond.   
Lina cracked her knuckles and reached down to pick up her sword. "What an idiot. Anyway, we're even now, okay, Zel?"   
Amelia looked at Lina in exasperation. "What happened that you owed Mister Zelgadis something, Miss Lina?" Spotting Zelgadis' blush, she wavered slightly before striking a pose, fist held high in the air. "A young woman's virtue should be kept clean! Mister Zelgadis, you must have defended Miss Lina's virtue, and kept her safe from harm!" Fireworks in the shapes of hearts exploded behind her.   
Lina took a deep breath and Zelgadis' blush only deepened with every word Lina said. "Actually, Amelia, Zelgadis kneed me in the stomach during that time of the month, tied me up in the tower of his lair, and let me be tortured by that wolf-thing."   
Zelgadis, blushing violently, interrupted with a "Hey now," but Lina continued, watching the blue eyes of the princess widen to almost impossible proportions.   
"And then, out of the blue, he rescued me, put up with me talking all the time, and even defended me against Dilgear. And all of this happened before I met you," Lina finished. "So I owed Zelgadis a lot. But what I chose to give him was defense when he needed it."   
Gourry looked at Zelgadis with wide eyes. "Gosh, Zel. Even I know not to knee a girl in the stomach. Especially during that time of the month."   
Zelgadis shot Gourry a dirty look through his blush. "How was I supposed to know? It's not like you can just walk up to a girl and ask her that!"   
Gourry blinked, turned and walked over to a blushing Sylphiel, and asked her point-blank. "Is it that time of the month?"   
Before Sylphiel could answer, Lina landed on Gourry, fists first, pummeling him into the floor. "Get a clue, jellyfish brain!"   
As Lina stalked towards the next door, Gourry whimpered, putting up his hands. "I still don't know what makes 'that time of the month' any different from the rest of the month…"   
Lina collapsed before she got to the door, and when Gourry got to his feet, he was the only one standing. Everyone else had fallen over. 

It was a few rooms later before Gourry ventured yet another question that was burning at the top of what could passably be called his brain. "Are we there yet?"   
Lina looked over at Gourry. "It depends on your definition of there. Somehow I think we'll know when we get there, okay?"   
Gourry struggled with this. "So we don't know where 'there' is?"   
Lina groaned, seeing where this was headed. Gourry had no sense of abstract thought. Put a sword in his hand and point him to someone and say 'that's the enemy, go kill it' and Gourry was your man. Anything else, and you may as well expect Xellos to pop out of the woodwork and rescue you without wanting your soul in return.   
Before Lina could answer, Zelgadis pushed open a heavy door, and they followed him into the room. The only problem with this fact was that Zelgadis had stopped short just inside the room, and Lina ran into his back. Then Amelia and Gourry ran into Lina. The only one who didn't join the sudden people-pile was Sylphiel, and that was because she was quick enough to side-step into the room and see what had caused Zelgadis to stop so suddenly.   
In the center of the room was a large crystal with a figure held suspended within it. Sylphiel ventured forward as the others untangled themselves, and Lina's irritated remarks were lost to the cleric as she put her hands on the crystal and looked at the figure trapped inside it.   
Suspended like a jewel in the crystal was a woman with shoulder-length black hair, garbed in what looked like long white flowing robes. An almost ethereal look was about her, but the reminder of her affiliation with the sinister Rezo countered it.   
Zelgadis breathed the woman's name as he approached the crystalline structure. "Eris…"   



	8. Chapter Seven

Dark Legacy - Chapter Seven

**Dark Legacy**   
**Chapter 7**

  


The whispered word echoed in the room, chilling the air and sending a shiver along Sylphiel's arms as she pulled away from the crystal, blue eyes widening in surprise.   
Lina walked towards the crystal, eyes narrowed in disbelief. "Eris? But the copy that she made of Rezo killed her… we saw it."   
Zelgadis shook his head, as if in attempt to clear some ghostly vision from his sight. "She… this woman looks like the Eris that I knew long ago. Before Rezo's madness tainted her as well. The Eris that would never…" A light flickered within his eyes, and he drew his sword suddenly, a silent Astral Vine spell snaking up the blade as he drew it in line to bring the blade sharply against the crystal.   
"Zelgadis!" Lina shouted, moving towards him, the crystal beginning to shear at the point where Zelgadis was striking it over and over. Before the sorceress could get close, a large section of crystal sheared off, falling free from the rest of the crystal, shattering on impact with the floor.   
A spell collapsed with the shattering of the crystal, and with held breath, Zelgadis looked up to the figure now half-released. Moments passed, the figure unchanging, no sign of life flickering. Zelgadis lifted into the air, rising to the figure, placing his fingers at her neck, a healing spell coming to his hand. "Breathe." The spell released, and through gritted teeth, he uttered the command again. "Breathe, damnit."   
A whimper issued from the still figure, and blue eyes flew open, shock and terror clearly evident within them. Before she could do anything further, Zelgadis put his hand on her cheek. "You're fine, Eris. It's safe now. Rezo's… gone."   
Sylphiel, Lina, and Amelia in particular all noted the tenderness with which he addressed Eris. At once, the female minds came to the conclusion that Zelgadis had liked Eris. Sylphiel was pleased, Lina was oddly discomforted, and Amelia felt her world collapsing. But none of them did anything. They simply watched.   
A slender hand lifted from its crystal prison, and her whisper was faint as she rested her hand on the stone of his cheek. "Zelgadis…? Is it really you…?"   
He sighed softly, pulling her free of the crystal. "Yes, Eris. I'm sorry that I didn't find you sooner. I always suspected…" One of her feet was still caught within the crystal, and he frowned, bending down. He reached out to the crystal with one finger, and as he touched the crystal around her ankle, a violet spark shattered it.   
As he stood, he helped her free, and they both alighted on the floor softly. Zelgadis looked over to see Lina standing there with her arms folded, and he knew an explanation was due. Both for Lina's curiosity and Eris' sake. "Everyone… I'd like you to meet the real Eris. Not the copy that we fought before, but the Eris of flesh and blood."   
Lina moved forwards, unfolding her arms. "So Rezo captured Eris and made a copy of her? And the copy, seeking to outdo its creator, in turn made a copy of Rezo?" She looked from Eris to Zelgadis. "Really, Zel. I've heard some long stretches, but even this one is going a bit thin. All this about a cure down here… you just wanted to find your girlfriend and rescue her, right?"   
Eris blinked in confusion at Lina, repeating the one word. "Girlfriend…?"   
Zelgadis' cheeks flamed scarlet, and Amelia put her hands to her heart. "I should have known, Mister Zelgadis! All this time that you've been cold and heartless was because you were waiting for your long lost girlfriend! And now that you've found her, you can be happy again for nothing can stand in the way of true love! It's soooo romantic!" Heart-shaped flowers bloomed around Amelia as she put her own feelings aside for the romance of the moment.   
"Um…" Zelgadis began, but Sylphiel put her hand up.   
"It's perfectly natural to be embarrassed, Zelgadis. But it's also wonderful that you've been reunited with your love. I know how you must feel… when I caught up with Gourry dear…"   
"SHE'S NOT MY GIRLFRIEND!" Zelgadis exploded in an annoyed tone.   
The three girls looked at Zelgadis and Eris and fell silent, blinking in surprise. Finally, Lina folded her arms again and tilted her head. "Okay, she's not your girlfriend. But you did seem to like her a lot."   
Eris looked from the redhead to Zelgadis, and then back. She didn't understand who everyone was, and all this talk about a girlfriend… were they talking about her? She opened her mouth to venture a reply. "I'm…"   
Before Eris could finish her thought, Zelgadis put his hand on her arm. "This is Eris Greywords. My sister."   
  



	9. Chapter Eight

Dark Legacy - Chapter Eight

**Dark Legacy**   
**Chapter Eight**

  
  


"Your sister?!?!"   
Zelgadis blinked as all four of his friends replied in one voice. Given the fact that she was his sister, he'd thought the similarities were there for all to see. However, when one took the stone blue skin and the various other differences related to being a chimera into account, he realized that they didn't look all that alike anymore, and his friends hadn't known it back then, and he sighed. "Yes, my sister."   
"But you two don't look a thing alike!" Lina protested, eying the two of them side by side.   
Zelgadis sighed again, but this time in annoyed exasperation. "I didn't always look like this, either, Lina!"   
Lina blinked in startlement. "That's true… I'm sorry, Zel. I… didn't mean…"   
"I hate to interrupt… but what happened?" Eris was looking at Zelgadis in surprise. "You… grew up. I get the feeling that you aren't my baby brother anymore…"   
Lina couldn't help it; she started to snicker. "Zel…? Someone's baby brother? Mister 'I don't really need you around, so go away and let be as depressed as I want to be?'" Her snicker turned dangerously close to a laugh. "I'll bet he was cute, too."   
Before Eris could tell Lina if he was cute or not, Zelgadis scowled at them both. "Enough. Let's get out of here and go back to the campsite and talk there. This place has too many things crawling around in it to be safe." 

Once the campfire was started, Zelgadis introduced everyone to Eris, and Lina noticed a complete difference from the Eris they had fought. For example, the Eris before them was quiet and polite, her mannerisms similar to Zelgadis'. When introduced to Sylphiel, the two immediately began discussing the magic of Cepheid, which had been long lost to the world.   
Lina shook her head, looking over at Zelgadis. "I never would have imagined that you had an older sister."   
"You have an older sister," Zelgadis shot back at the redhead.   
"Well… yeah… but you never so much as mentioned it when we fought… the copy," Lina retorted.   
"That wasn't my sister. My sister would never have fallen in love with her grandfather!" Zelgadis snapped. "The problem with Rezo's copies was a severe mental imbalance. Look at them both. They were megalomaniacs."   
"And a megalowhatsit is bad?" Gourry interjected.   
Lina fell over. _Is it me, or is Gourry being more dense than usual?_ "Oh, I don't know, Gourry," she said sarcastically as she sat up. "A megalomaniac person is your overzealous take-over-the-world type. The kind of person who wants power, and lots of it."   
Gourry closed his eyes and thought about it for a moment. "Oh! Like you! But that's not so bad…" He opened his eyes to see a furious Lina being calmly restrained by Zelgadis. "What? Did I say something?"   
Still held back by Zelgadis, Lina glared at Gourry. "A megalomaniac is someone like Hellmaster Phibrizo!"   
Gourry blinked. "But he was just a kid! Kids get like that. You know, when I was little, I wanted nothing more than to have all the marbles in the village."   
Even Zelgadis couldn't hold Lina back after that. "You idiot!" Lina shouted, breaking away from Zelgadis and pummeling Gourry. "You don't have any marbles!"   
Amelia walked up to look at the fracas, and sighed. "They'll never change, will they?"   
Zelgadis watched Lina beat on Gourry for a few moments before looking to Amelia. "I doubt it, Amelia." He looked over to where Eris and Sylphiel were animatedly discussing magic. "I wonder if she knows how long it's been…"   
Amelia looked across Lina and Gourry to see the two women talking. "I don't know. I'm glad that you found her, Mister Zelgadis." The wistfulness in her voice made him look at her.   
"You have an older sister, don't you, Amelia?"   
She looked back at him in surprise. "Yes… but she ran away a long time ago."   
Zelgadis nodded. "You'll find her. I'm sure of it." One of his rare smiles crept across his lips, and for a moment, Amelia basked in the smile that was shared only with her.   
A high-pitched scream broke the moment, and Zelgadis and Gourry leapt to their feet, swords drawn and attention on the raven-haired woman who was screaming.   
"What is it?" Zelgadis asked, darting over to Eris and looking around.   
Shaking, his sister pointed to a small brown spider on the ground. In all fairness, the spider really wasn't all that close to Eris, and it seemed to be minding its own business, but Eris would have none of it. She practically climbed onto Zelgadis' back, insisting that he kill the spider.   
Sylphiel walked over and bent down to look at the tiny brown thing. "It's just a little spi…der…" As she looked at it, it grew in size until she was forced to back up. It was turning into every woman's nightmare: a six-foot tall spider with fangs.   
Eris screamed again, her grip tightening on Zelgadis.   



	10. Chapter Nine

Dark Legacy - Chapter Nine

**Dark Legacy**   
**Chapter Nine**

  


A brilliant orange flare shot past Sylphiel, dispersing on the spider. "I hate spiders! Fireball!!" Lina shot another Fireball at the now-burning husk. "Especially the kind that have been tainted by Rezo's magic!" She scowled as the spider refused to fall. "Die already! Elmekia Lance!"   
The white light flared out, spearing the spider. For a moment, everything hung in bas-relief, and then the world righted itself as the spider dissipated like a low-level Monster.   
Eris stopped shrieking, and looked over to Lina gratefully. "Thank you… I just can't stand spiders…"   
Lina rolled her eyes. "You sure she's related to you? I figured she'd be made of tougher stuff than that."   
Zelgadis smirked, pointing off behind Lina. "Lina, if you take two steps to the side, the slug will miss you."   
Lina froze; turning an unhealthy shade of blue, but then caught on and smirked. "Yeah, yeah, Zel. Not funny."   
Two eyes on long brown stalks peered over Lina's shoulders.   
Time stopped. 

"AIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! FOR THE LOVE OF CEPHEID, I HATE SLUGS!!!! GET IT AWAY, GET IT AWAY… GOURRY, SAVE MEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" 

Amelia sighed happily, a large slab of slug stuck on a stick, roasting over the campfire. "I love the smell of slugs cooking."   
She was, of course, the only one enjoying the slug meat. Lina was cringing in her bedroll, and Gourry was busy cleaning his sword after hacking the slug into bits. Eris and Sylphiel had resumed their chatter about Cepheid, and Zelgadis had walked off in disgust, finding himself in front of the door to Rezos' lab once more. Casting a glance back up at the archway up the stairs, he slipped into the lab, closing the door silently behind him. _What they don't know can kill them… I have to be sure…_

The rooms were dark in the underground lab, the passages that he took as familiar to him as the stones on his hand. He'd slipped through a hidden door in the first room, passing into secret passages that facilitated travel between rooms.   
He wasn't worried for himself. He had the same magical presence as Rezo, given both that he was a descendant of the Red Priest, and that Rezo had created his current body. In this case, it was almost convenient. Here he could walk without danger. The others couldn't.   
And he didn't want them to know what was down here. 

Zelgadis emerged in a large room with a series of crystals, each clouded and dark. If anything had been alive within them, it was certainly dead now. He paused in front of each crystal, reading the cryptic symbols set by Rezo's hand long ago. None were of concern, none posed a threat. So far, so good.   
He didn't know that he was being watched. 

Lina had sufficiently recovered from her panic, and looked around the campsite. That's odd. Zelgadis is… missing. "Has anyone seen Zelgadis?"   
Amelia, Sylphiel, and Eris all shook their heads. Gourry looked up from his sword. "Oh. He went back into the lab."   
Lina grabbed the swordsman by the throat. "You saw him go back into the lab by himself, knowing how dangerous it is, and you DIDN'T TELL ME???"   
"Um… you're choking me… you weren't listening when I told you…" Gourry managed to sputter.   
Lina dropped him, grabbing her sword. "Let's go. I've got a bad feeling about this." 

Zelgadis was thinking almost the same thing as he moved silently along the hallways. He'd figured that Eris' sudden change from reluctant to help in the research to overzealous about it had something to do with the copies. He just hadn't been certain that the overzealous Eris was a copy. Now that he was certain, the facilities had to be down here, and Zelgadis was going to destroy them.   
He slipped through another secret door, moving swiftly along passages until he came to the room with the one door in the complex that he'd never passed through. Rezo had always stopped him.   
But Rezo wasn't around anymore.   
Zelgadis stepped into the room, the light level only slightly better than in the passageways. He cast a light spell and looked around, recalling the various days of his life spent within, seeing books on the shelves that he had collected.   
Shaking his head, he turned to look at the door that had always been closed to him. It was, of course, still closed, but this time Rezo wasn't here.   
He walked up to the door and put his hand on the knob.   
"Zelgadis," came an unearthly voice. "Have you completed your studies?"   
Stunned, Zelgadis spun at Rezo's voice, seeing the Red Priest before him. Old habits died hard, and he stammered for an answer before he realized that it wasn't Rezo. It wasn't even a copy. It was an old spell that Rezo had cast in order to fool a younger Zelgadis into leaving.   
Smirking, Zelgadis replied. "That's none of your concern." He turned and opened the door, walking through and leaving the spell-image behind him. 

The room was large and his footsteps echoed in the darkness as he moved though to the center of the room. There was something in front of him, and he brought more power to his light spell so as to see it better.   
Before his shocked eyes was a crystal with his very image suspended within it.   
Him. Zelgadis. Human.   



	11. Chapter Ten

Dark Legacy - Chapter Ten

**Dark Legacy**   
**Chapter Ten**

  


He stood, frozen to the spot, looking at himself in the crystal. Just like Eris. Did that mean that he was a copy, and not the original? "What am I?" He whispered, looking at the form in the crystal. "What am I, and who are you?"   
_Does it matter?_ A voice within him asked. _You are you. That is not. Kill it and move on._   
He found his sword in his hands, and forced himself to lower it. "No! I am not a killer! He has a right to live."   
_ Even if he is you and you are nothing? You are not a killer, but what if he is? What then, Zelgadis?_   
The tormented youth shook his head, fighting the voice. "No. He has just as much a right to live as I do!"   
_ But do you have a right? You are not Human. You are Chimera._   
Zelgadis narrowed his eyes. "And what if I am?" In echo of the voice, he retorted. "Does it matter?"   
Crystal blue eyes opened. _It does to you._   
Silence fell in the room, the tormented youth standing before the crystal, looking at the now-open blue eyes of the human. 

Lina frowned. She could hear Zelgadis' voice… but darned if she could figure out where he was. From the sounds of it, she needed to get there fast. He was talking to himself, and everyone knew that talking to yourself was a sign of impending mental doom.   
Finally, Lina did what Lina did best when her temper was short. She drew back her hand, aimed towards where she heard his voice the clearest, and let a fireball fly at the wall.   
Dust and debris flew wildly across the room, and when Lina looked to see the damage, found that the hole she had made led into a room that hadn't had a door. And through the hole she could see Zelgadis standing near a crystal similar to the one Eris had been trapped within. His sword was in his hand, point on the floor, and he was staring into the crystal as if mesmerized.   
"Zelgadis!" Eris screamed, pushing past Lina. "Oh sweet Cepheid, Zelgadis!!!" She ran into the room, wrapping her arms around the chimera, sobbing. "I'm sorry… I'm so sorry…"   
Lina was still trying to figure it out as the remainder of the group approached the crystal and the two at its foot. She looked up at the crystal, and without really thinking about it, commented. "He's kinda cute. Who is he?"   
Zelgadis collapsed on the floor.   
Eris looked over at Lina. "This is…" she fumbled for a moment. "This is what Zelgadis looked like before Rezo… changed him."   
Lina looked to the chimera now sitting on the floor, then looked to the figure in the crystal, a vivid red blush coloring her cheeks and ears. "Oh… Um…" It was, for once, one of those rare moments where Lina didn't know what to say.   
"So you think he is cute, and I'm just a monster." Zelgadis' voice was flat.   
Lina turned back to the figure on the floor and shook her head. "No, no! That's not what I meant, Zel. I mean…" she hastily added. "I think I can safely say that most of us think you're pretty good looking…"   
Gourry cleared his throat. "I'm left out of this, right?"   
Whatever answer Lina had for Gourry was lost in Amelia's outburst. "I agree with Miss Lina! While he may be cute, I prefer good-looking! Cute can only get you so far… unless you're a princess… and everyone gives you things because you're so cute…"   
Sylphiel leaned into Amelia. "You're only making it worse."   
Amelia looked over. Sure enough, there was a dark cloud forming over Zelgadis' head. Her eyes widened for a moment, and then a firm resolve cascaded over her. She'd say it, no matter what the outcome. "Mister Zelgadis, get those thoughts out of your head. I happen to like you a whole lot, and if you want proof, after we leave here, we can go to Saillune and go on a date."   
Silence fell in the room as everyone except the figure in the crystal looked at Amelia. As it loomed heavier in the room, Amelia blushed and tapped her fingers together. "That is… if you…" Seeing no reaction, she leapt at Lina. "Miss Lina, help me!!!"   
Lina looked at the princess who was now glued to her with her chest dangerously close to Lina's face. "Amelia, stop shoving those in my face."   
Zelgadis sighed and stood up as Lina pushed Amelia away. "All of that aside... the question is, what do we do about him?"   
A smooth voice from the darkness corrected the chimera. "No. The question is: What do I do with all of you?"   
  



	12. Chapter Eleven

Dark Legacy - Chapter Eleven

**Dark Legacy**   
**Chapter Eleven**

  
  


Eris was the one who recognized the voice. "Vrumugun!" She spun towards the source of the voice, looking into the darkness.   
The sorcerer glided forwards, cloak obscuring his body and face. When he came near enough, he stopped, looking towards Eris quietly. "Blue eyes, not gold." He noted. "You are the original, I see."   
Eris lifted her chin slightly. "Of course I'm the original. And I have a bit of a score to settle with you."   
The shaded smile under the hood twisted. "Do you now…? It seems that we all have one reason or another to dislike each other… don't we?"   
Lina rolled her eyes and folded her arms. "Great. First, Dilgear, now Vrumugun. What is this, old home week? Is Rezo going to appear out of the shadows and try to resurrect Shabranigdo again?"   
Black eyes shifted to the redhead. "No, Lina Inverse. Rezo is indeed dead. And for that, I feel that I should thank you. You removed the largest obstacle that I had in my research."   
"Your research…?" Lina echoed. Her eyes narrowed. "It was you who was behind the copy research, wasn't it? You're the one who wanted to make clones that you could control! Only Rezo wouldn't let you." She started to pace as she put it together. "You wanted subjects that you could test with, and you had the perfect source: Rezo's own family. Because he was so wrapped up in restoring his eyesight, you could do what you wanted when no-one was looking. Only Eris resisted, so you switched her out with a copy. But there was a problem. The copies were insane, and you couldn't get the eyecolor right. No matter what you did, the eyes were always wrong." Lina stopped and looked at Vrumugun. "Now, I wonder why that was? I'll bet that you were using Rezo's original notes on the copies he made of himself, and you had to guess about the eyes."   
"That's none of your concern!" Vrumugun snapped. "What matters is that you are here, and soon I will be rid of you once and for all!"   
"Yeah, yeah," Lina waved a hand. "So before you go and destroy us all, why don't you explain the crystal?" She pointed back towards the human Zelgadis in the crystal.   
Vrumugun looked from the redhead to the crystal and smirked. "That's a secret." 

Lina frowned and looked over to Amelia. "Hey, Amelia... is that how it's supposed to go?"   
Amelia pulled a sheaf of paper from her cloak and peered at it. "No, Mister Vrumugun, you're supposed to say 'You wouldn't understand it if I told you.'"   
Vrumugun blinked, his cloak parting and a gloved hand lifting some papers to his face. "Mmmm…. You're right. I got the lines mixed up again. Do forgive me. Shall we try again?"   
They nodded, putting their scripts away. 

"Yeah, yeah," Lina waved a hand. "So before you go and destroy us all, why don't you explain the crystal?" She pointed back towards the human Zelgadis in the crystal.   
Vrumugun looked from the redhead to the crystal and smirked. "You wouldn't understand it if I told you."   
Lina sighed. "Why do the bad guys always have to make it hard? Look, Vrummy. Just explain it all, and we'll go away quietly."   
Zelgadis looked at Lina. "That's easy for you to say. It's not you in that crystal."   
"It's not you, either," Lina replied, and then looked to Vrumugun. "Well?"   
"I have no intentions of telling you anything, Lina Inverse. Knowledge is power, and while I have the knowledge, I have the power. For example," Vrumugun approached the crystal, pointing his finger at the figure within it. "If I were to do this…" A flash of lightning arced from Vrumugun's hand into the crystal, impacting on the human's right hand.   
Zelgadis dropped his sword, his left hand clutching at his right hand as he cringed in agony.   
"It would harm your friend here." Vrumugun continued smoothly. "And as I am the one in control of that crystal, it would be best that you do precisely as I say."   
She looked at the human form which showed no pain, and then to her friend who was kneeling with his right hand cradled. There was no way that she was going to let Vrumugun continue to hurt Zelgadis… and any wrong move would be disastrous. But Vrumugun had also shown Lina something that she hadn't considered; the two were linked. It gave her a few ideas, but in order to act on her ideas… She'd have to play his game. "Okay, Vrumugun. What do you want?"   
"What I want, Lina Inverse, is to make a complete copy of you."   



	13. Chapter Twelve

Dark Legacy - Chapter Twelve

**Dark Legacy**   
**Chapter Twelve**

  
  


"You want to WHAT?" Lina raged at Vrumugun. "No way! Forget it! I'm not letting that you abuse that much power!"   
The tiny sorceress was standing on her toes, eyes lit with an angry fire, hands in fists and arms straight. A tangible aura was coalescing around her, and those in the room who knew her knew that any target she put half a thought to would be fried. Including them.   
Vrumugun put his hand out towards the crystal. "What do you say, Lina Inverse? The way I see it… you have very little choice in the matter… unless you just don't care about your friend." Magic began to gather in his hand, dark and oppressive. 

What Vrumugun didn't see and Lina did see was Eris clasping her hands and closing her eyes. Not two seconds after, Sylphiel did the same. Zelgadis and Gourry watched Lina in concern, and Lina looked at Vrumugun. _I have to stall him… I have to buy Eris and Sylphiel enough time…_ "What's in it for me, Vrumugun? I mean, it's me that you want a copy of… there has to be some sort of compensation involved."   
Amelia's mouth fell open, but before she could say a thing, Zelgadis clamped his hand over her mouth. There was no use trying to bite him, and with his stone hand in the way, nothing she said would be heard, so she resigned herself to shooting him a dirty look, which he ignored.   
Vrumugun, unaware of what was going on behind him, was completely fixed on Lina. "The only compensation that I have for you is that I might let you live."   
Lina smirked. "Well, in that case…" She saw the protection spell lock in place and smiled darkly. "I'll just have to refuse you." She brought her own hands together, spell silently weaving as she spoke.   
Vrumugun's expression didn't change. "Pity, that." The magic that he had been holding fired off towards the crystal.   
The flare of red and black magic impacted with the protection spell and dissipated along it with a glorious pfft. Lina grinned darkly. "Yes, a pity, isn't it? But now that it's just you and us… maybe you want to rethink your demands." Between her hands began the unmistakable glow of a spell. But there wasn't any telling which one it was until she released it. "Gray Bomb!"   
The explosion underneath Vrumugun should have been enough to severely injure him. However, he laughed it off, reaching out to pick a rock shard out of his cloak. "Fool. You can't harm me, Lina Inverse. Not that way. You see, you've overlooked one important thing…"   
It struck Lina at the same time the ball of magic did. The magic had the same feeling to it as Halciform's. _Mazoku! He's made the pact! He's becoming Mazoku!_ She fell backwards and winced in anticipation as another bolt of magic fired her way, but it dissipated on another form entirely. 

Xellos Metallium was standing between Vrumugun and the crumpled form of Lina Inverse. Intense violet eyes shot through with obsidian opened to glare at Vrumugun with more emotion than a Mazoku should have. His cloak flared out around him, the sphere at the top of his raised staff glowed with a brilliant red fire, and for a moment, the observers realized that they were looking at Xellos in a fit of anger. Anger that none of them had ever seen him so clearly display.   
Vrumugun stepped back, human surprise etched across his face. "Xellos! What is the meaning of this?! Mazoku do not interfere with one another's actions!"   
Xellos' voice was a low hiss when he spoke, dropping his staff into a fighter's position. "Mazoku interfere when the directives are ignored. By Her order, that one is not to be harmed!" A free hand pointed backwards to the extremely startled redheaded sorceress. "You defy Her order, so I am here."   
Eris and Sylphiel looked to the others, alarm on Sylphiel's face and confusion on Eris'. Eris did not know this person who had appeared in seeming defense of Lina, but she could tell that he was far more powerful than she was. Sylphiel didn't particularly like the implications of Xellos appearing. Generally speaking, the Trickster Priest didn't do anything of his own volition for the good of anyone. There would be some form of payment that he would ultimately want. Was it Lina?   
Amelia lowered Zelgadis' hand and peered over his arm to look at Vrumugun and Xellos. "Mister Zelgadis… if they start to fight here… we're all in trouble…"   
Zelgadis nodded, moving away from Amelia, gathering a spell silently in his hand. Xellos' focus shifted over Vrumugun's shoulder, spotting Zelgadis and the spell. Violet lips thinned, and before Vrumugun could so much as blink, Xellos phased out from in front of Vrumugun, caught Lina up in his arms, phased out again, and reappeared beside Sylphiel, safely out of range.   
Before Vrumugun could react, Zelgadis opened his hand, calling the spell. "Elmekia Flame!"   
The brilliant pillar of light shot out from his extended palm, cutting into Vrumugun without resistance.   



	14. Chapter Thirteen

Dark Legacy - Chapter Thirteen

**Dark Legacy**   
**Chapter Thirteen**

  


As the light faded in the room, Lina started to kick and beat on the Trickster Priest, who was still holding her. "Let me go, I can stand on my own, thank you very much! Xellos, you idiot, let GO!" The sound of a fist meeting a solid shoulder echoed, and as everyone's eyes adjusted to the lack of light again, they saw Lina standing on her own feet, Xellos rubbing his shoulder.   
"Lina… you're so violent at times. You could have at least thanked me…" Xellos complained, all signs of fury gone.   
As Lina began to form a response, Eris walked over to look at the collapsed form of Vrumugun. "There's a problem," she announced, holding up the fabric of a cloak. "He's not here." 

Eris' words echoed through the room, and Lina promptly forgot about beating on Xellos. "Hey, Zel… an Elmekia Flame wouldn't destroy him if he were still partially human, right?" At the shake of Zelgadis' head, she frowned. "Which means that he's Mazoku enough to be able to phase in and out like Xellos. Given that… he could be anywhere. We've got to get him out of the way before he makes any more trouble."   
Xellos collected himself, straightening his clothing and looking to Lina. "In which case, I think I'll stick around for a little while…"   
At Xellos' words, Eris allowed the cloak to fall and turned to look at the purple-haired priest. "You are Mazoku, aren't you? Why are you protecting Lina?" Her blue eyes glinted in the light, and Lina felt a spell being woven, but couldn't identify it.   
Xellos blinked. Why in the Name of the Greater Beast did he suddenly want to tell her? He blinked again. Magic. There was a spell about, and he'd been careless. She'd focused her magic on one of his stones, and was trying to manipulate him with it. Casually, he reached up and touched the center stone in his cloak clasp, negating her efforts. "That's an interesting spell. You almost had me with it. You'll have to show me how it works."   
Eris was miffed that he could toss the spell off so easily. Lifting her chin in a perfectly haughty maneuver, she sniffed at him. "Sorry, it's a secret."   
Xellos collapsed.   
Gourry slid up to Xellos, a stick in his hand and began poking at the Trickster Priest. "Oi, Xellos…"   
Lina turned away in irritation. "Fruitcake," she muttered under her breath and looked at the crystal. It took her several seconds to realize what she saw, and when she did, she knew there was more to worry about than just Vrumugun.   
The crystal was cracked. 

"Oh, hell." Lina whispered, walking past Xellos and Gourry, looking intently at the crack. She touched it with two gloved fingers and sighed, looking back to Zelgadis. "It must have happened with the impact of the Gray Bomb…"   
Zelgadis shrugged, even though a thousand emotions were racing through him. He put them aside, in favor of the more practical thought that maybe this other self could reveal some answers at long last.   
With the same level of determination as before, Zelgadis cast the Astral Vine on his sword. But just before he struck the crystal, he heard that inner voice again. _Don't hold back... just kill it._ He hissed, stopping the blade as it touched the crystal. Pulling himself forcibly back, he released the Astral Vine spell and looked at Lina. "You do it. I…" he searched for a plausible excuse. "The Elmekia Flame…" He let his voice trail off and looked away.   
Lina put up an eyebrow. _Zelgadis, the consummate actor. He's lying and I don't know what he wants to say… _"Good idea, Zel. If Vrumugun comes back…" She tilted her head at him for a moment, and saw that he knew that she knew. Turning her gaze on the crystal, she narrowed her eyes for a moment. "Blade Haut!" Her minor sword took on a strange glow, and she swung the sword, not even coming close to the crystal.   
Nothing happened.   
Amelia looked at Lina. "Um… Miss Lina…? I think you were supposed to hit the crystal…" Her words were cut off by the crystal giving a shudder, and then splitting completely in half, falling to each side of the human figure.   
"Wow," was all that Amelia could manage as Sylphiel and Eris moved to catch the youth as he fell, unsupported.   
As both girls made contact with the human, shock played across their faces. Both quickly began various spells, and the others moved towards them. Only Xellos hovered in the background, interested, but not so interested that he had to be on top of it all.   
"Sylphiel?" Lina prompted when the cleric's eyes opened.   
"There's nothing here, Miss Lina… no Astral presence… it's like he's dead!"   



	15. Chapter Fourteen

Dark Legacy - Chapter Fourteen

**Dark Legacy**   
**Chapter Fourteen**

  


Almost as soon as Sylphiel had whispered the words, Eris gasped. "No! There's a thread… an Astral Thread…" Lina looked to the chimera Zelgadis, seeing how unnaturally pale he was, and winced internally.   
Sylphiel turned to Eris, adding her talents to the spell that Eris was weaving, and a scintillating silver line appeared in the air. Lina's eyes traced it as quickly as did everyone else's.   
The thread began in the human form and ended in the startled chimera, who was looking at himself in dumb shock. His gaze followed the thread back to the human, and he slowly shook his head. "I… don't understand."   
"It's simple, boy." Came Vrumugun's voice from the shadows. "One is your real body, and one is simply a vessel that Rezo created in order to test a theory. But which is which, I wonder?"   
Lina spun, glaring out at the darkness. "Okay, Vrumugun. Start talking, or I start blasting." Never one for idle threats, Lina began to build her trademark fireball.   
"No, Lina Inverse…" Vrumugun suddenly appeared beside Sylphiel and Eris, and caught up the human figure. "I don't think that you will. Now, if you'll excuse me… I have some studies of my own to do." With that, he vanished, taking the human with him. 

Xellos was the one to break the silence. "Oh my… how inconvenient."   
Lina glared up at the Mazoku. "Okay, fruitcake. You walked into this, so you're going to help us. Where did he go?"   
Xellos shook his head. "I can't do that, Lina. You see, I can't interfere with another Mazoku."   
Lina put her hands on her hips and rose into the air to come face-to-face with Xellos. "Can it, Xellos. You and I both know better."   
Xellos shrugged. "Not this time, Lina. It's a different case. Vrumugun has made the Pact with another Mazoku, and I can't interfere."   
Lina drifted back some, smirking. "Oh, you'll have to, Xellos. You see, you won't have a choice in the matter. You see… you told Vrumugun that Her orders were that I not be harmed. And I'm guessing that Her that you were talking about is the Greater Beast. And since you're directly under Her command, you won't have any choice but to get involved."   
Xellos looked at Lina curiously. "Mmm, and why is that?"   
Lina folded her arms and smiled. "Because. I intend to be the bait." 

On the ground, Lina's words rippled through everyone and they all froze. Lina. Bait. A trap for a Mazoku? Xellos would never participate!   
The logic of it smacked Xellos across the face far more effectively than Lina's slippers ever had. Opening his eyes, Xellos inclined his head towards Lina. "Well played, Lina. An excellent manipulation, if I do say so myself." He closed his eyes again and grinned at her. "You'd make an excellent Mazoku, should you wish to make the Pact with me…"   
Lina rolled her eyes and tossed a slipper at Xellos. As it bounced off of his head, she smirked. "Get a clue, fruitcake." She turned and landed beside the little group. "So then…" Her gaze swept across to Zelgadis, who was silent, his eyes closed. "Where do you think he's gone, Zel?"   
When no answer was forthcoming, Lina walked up to the chimera and put her hand on his shoulder, shaking him slightly. "Zelgadis?" 

He opened his eyes with a wave of disorientation. He'd heard Lina's voice, but where was she? In fact, no-one was here. He looked around, moving away from the wall slowly. He frowned at his own sluggishness. That Elmekia Flame followed by the Astral Locate had drained him more than he'd thought. Refocusing his thoughts, he forced himself to get mobile, reminding himself that if he were to fall over from magical exertion and Lina found him, he'd never hear the end of it from her. It would become a topic of teasing from here to Sairaag and back.   
Never mind that Eris would witness it too. He paused. Eris. He'd seen the orange eyes before and suspected that she was a copy. But when Rezo was alive, he never could get a straight answer. He walked along the dark room, looking for the exit as he thought. He'd thought that he might find her in this lab… but the sheer reality of it was that he hadn't had enough faith in those thoughts. He shook his head. Oh, chimera of little faith.   
He reached the door and opened it up, emerging in the lit hallways, looking around with a frown. Was there a spell in here that blocked his enhanced sight? He couldn't sense one… he turned in the hallway, looking for a spell-mark.   
But something entirely different caught his attention.   
The reflection in the glass.   
His reflection.   
He hadn't simply found the human.   
He'd become it. 


	16. Chapter Fifteen

Dark Legacy - Chapter Fifteen

**Dark Legacy**   
**Chapter Fifteen**

  
  


Lina scowled at the chimera before her. "Zelgadis Greywords, you'd better open your eyes. This is no time to overextend your magic, so cut it out."   
Crystalline blue eyes opened, unfathomable depths quietly burning within them. For a moment, Lina was startled, but then she nodded. "That's better. Don't do that again, okay?"   
He nodded silently, looking at the crystal, and Lina followed his gaze. As if in an answer to an unspoken thought, she nodded. "Yeah, we'd better get going and find him and Vrumugun before anything happens. You got any ideas?" At the shake of the chimera's head, Lina sighed and turned to the others. "Any of you got a plan?"   
Eris pondered. "There used to be a chamber here where Rezo did all of his work. Vrumugun might go there in search of answers." She looked around the room. "But I don't know where this room is in the complex… so getting there could be harder…"   
Lina pointed back towards the hole in the wall that she'd made earlier. "We could go back that way and start from that room."   
Eris nodded, moving past Sylphiel and Amelia. "I may recognize that room. It's been a while, though." As she walked past the rest of the group, she continued. "It's been what… about five years, you said, Zelgadis?"   
"Mmm," the chimera replied noncommittally, sheathing his blade and following.   
Lina looked over to Amelia and Gourry and rolled her eyes. "Is it me, or did he just turn into Mister Personality?"   
"Miss Lina! Be nice! Mister Zelgadis has had a very long day. He's probably a lot more tired than he wants us to know. After all… he didn't sleep any last night." Amelia retorted. She grabbed Sylphiel's hand. "Come on, Miss Sylphiel. Maybe we can help keep him on his feet without him knowing."   
Lina watched Amelia and Sylphiel, and looked at Gourry. "I dunno. Something doesn't feel right…" As the blonde swordsman moved past her, she shot a glance up to the Mazoku hovering in the air above. "Come on, fruitcake." 

He was going to be very, very ill. Somehow he still retained a connection with the chimera body, and knew where they were going. He hadn't been able to make it talk, just mumble noncommittally. But the sensation of being quite literally in two places at once was playing hell with his stomach.   
And the fact that he was currently trying to hide from the Dimos Dragon that he'd wandered into was only another complication. Unarmed, unwarded, and the human body didn't seem to have the same touch of Rezo as his chimera body.   
As he fought the nausea and scrambled into another room, he almost – almost wished that he was the chimera. Almost. 

Lina followed the group quietly, scowling at the thin rope tied around her wrist. Behind and above her, the cheerful Mazoku bobbled along on the other end of the string, as if he were a balloon. Lina wanted to kill him. She'd had to turn back and get him going again so many times that she'd given up and tied one end of a ball of twine that she had found to his ankle, and the other end to her wrist. She felt like an idiot, and she couldn't even take comfort in smacking him into the door archways, because he enjoyed the pain. Instead, she'd told him in no uncertain terms that he was to phase through archways, because she didn't have time to wait while he got over the thrill of smacking into each and every one.   
As they walked along, Lina watched Zelgadis in concern. He was moving so stiffly, pushing away Amelia and Sylphiel's offers of aid. She was starting to wonder if Rezo had cast a spell in his lab to incapacitate the chimera when the distinct roar of a dragon sounded ahead in the hallway.   
Leaving Xellos to fend for himself on the ceiling, Lina darted ahead to see that it was a Dimos Dragon, and it had something or someone pinned. Now, dragons were Lina's specialty, and it had been a while since she'd gotten to play with a Dimos Dragon… "Hey, dragon!" She called out. "How'd you like to be the one to try and beat me?"   
The dragon ignored her, instead roaring at whatever it had pinned against the wall.   
"Teach you to ignore me…" Lina lost her temper almost immediately, and before she thought about it or before anyone could stop her, the Dragon Slave formed and left her hands, discharging on the Dimos Dragon and reducing it and almost everything around it to cinders. "Victory!"   
From the dust and debris emerged a singed figure with a very familiar and very annoyed voice. "Damnit, Lina, how may times do I have to tell you to think before you throw spells like that in a small area?!"   
Lina blinked. She knew that Zelgadis was behind her. So why was his voice coming from the half-singed human that she'd just rescued? 


	17. Chapter Sixteen

Dark Legacy - Chapter Sixteen

**Dark Legacy**   
**Chapter Sixteen**

  


Lina stared. Somewhere in the back of her head, a small voice began ranting about the impossibility of it all, and then she forcibly reminded herself that when dealing with the remnants of Rezo's magic, almost anything was possible.   
She was looking at the prime example of it: one very irritated, very human Zelgadis.   
She watched the human look at chimera look at human look at her. Raising both hands, she turned so that she could see them both. "Hey, don't look at me like that. I only killed the dragon."   
The human smirked. "I'm perfectly aware of that, Lina."   
Amelia looked back and forth, finally venturing nervously: "Mister… Zelgadis?"   
Both human and chimera turned to look at her, though only the human offered a verbal reply. "Yes, Amelia?"   
It proved entirely too much for Amelia, and the princess promptly burst into tears. "I don't know which you is you!"   
The human sighed, and the chimera deflated slightly. Sylphiel figured it out at once. "They're both Zelgadis, Amelia! One is just an extension of the other…"   
Gourry scratched his head. "I don't get it. If that's Zelgadis… who is this?" He pointed to the chimera, who joined the human in staring disbelievingly at him.   
Lina reached for something to smack Gourry with, grabbing the first thing that came near her hand, and scored the hit. Only then did she look at what she had used.   
It was a brown shoe with no special traits, only slightly scuffed. Her expression shifted from irritation to disbelief as it dawned on her that she'd grabbed it from above her… she turned and looked upwards to see a very startled Xellos… minus a shoe. Amelia's muffled tears turned into muffled laughter as those looking at the Mazoku noticed his sock. It was black, with yellow dots of what looked like smiley faces on it. Lina smiled dangerously, drifting up towards Xellos, shoe in hand. "Xellos…" She started to snicker, "your socks… have smiley faces on them…"   
Xellos snatched his shoe back from Lina, hastily putting it back on his foot. "So what if they do, Lina? I happen to like them. I walk around flattening happiness wherever I go."   
It took the group several minutes to recover while the smiling Mazoku enjoyed his joke. 

"So Zel…" Lina started as she chewed on some waybread at their hastily-made camp. "What do you think? Is one of you a copy?"   
The human looked at the chimera. The chimera looked at the human. Lina decided that it was entirely too spooky.   
The human shook his head. "I don't know. The other copies that we encountered… To be honest, we didn't really study any of them. And the copy of Rezo was perfectly capable of functioning without a controlling element, unlike…" For lack of a better reference, he simply looked at the chimera, who looked back at him.   
Eris frowned, leaning forwards as Lina sipped from her waterskin. "Are you controlling him, Zelgadis?"   
The human nodded. "To an extent, yes. It's disorienting, but I can see from both… viewpoints. I can't make him talk… but I can influence what he does."   
Eris pursed her lips. "You aren't going to like this, but switch back, if you can. Just for a moment. I need to see if you can control the human from the chimera."   
For a moment, it looked as if the human would object, but with a resigned sigh, he closed his eyes. Lina noticed that the chimera's eyes closed at the same time as well.   
Quite suddenly, the human fell backwards, hitting his head on the rock that he was sitting in front of, and the chimera opened his eyes, looked over with irritation, and remarked quite clearly: "That's going to hurt, you realize."   
Lina reflexively looked at the human who looked for all the world like he was asleep. "It's nothing that a healing spell won't fix…" She reached out with the spell in her hand, casting it, then shivering.   
"What's wrong, Lina?" Sylphiel asked.   
Lina shook her head. "I felt the magic heal… but there was no sense of awareness."   
Eris looked to the chimera. "Can you wake him?"   
The chimera stared at the human for a time, and then shook his head. "No. This body has the advantage of demon and golem. That," he said, indicating the human body, "does not."   
Eris nodded. "You can switch back if you want. I don't think this is a simple case of copy."   
The chimera blinked, and the human sat up with a grunt and looked at Eris. "What do you think this is then?" The human asked.   
Eris frowned. "That _is_ disconcerting, Zelgadis. I think probably Rezo lied to you, and somehow Astrally translated you into the form he created with the demon and the golem. I'm going to have to think about this some more, and find the library and read some of his studies again. But why don't we rest for the night, and start looking again in the morning?"   
Lina nodded. "Yeah, Zel. In that body, you're human. You may not be aware of how tired you really are."   
Everyone got their bedrolls out, and as watches were split out, Zelgadis noted that he wasn't included. But before he could gather enough energy to remark upon it, he was fast asleep. 


	18. Chapter Seventeen

Dark Legacy - Chapter Seventeen

**Dark Legacy**   
**Chapter Seventeen**

  
  


For the first time in a very long time, Zelgadis slept as a human. The recurrent nightmare was gone. Instead, in its place was something that had been buried, lost in the overlaid past. The past that was truly his.   
He had wanted to be strong. He'd wanted to protect his older sister from the bullies. He didn't care about himself, just protect her. So that she'd stop coming home in tears. She'd come home in tears that very day, pushing past him and running for the relative sanctity of her own room. He'd followed, but she wouldn't open the door.   
He'd headed out into the woods, grabbing up his sword and his leather strips that he used as bracers. He'd wrapped his arms clumsily, and had to stop several times until he got them wrapped well enough to stand the stress of him whipping his sword around.   
Pathetic. Pathetic. Pathetic.   
It was the chant in his mind as he swung the blade over and over, forgetting all of the meager training he'd had in his anger against whoever had made Eris cry.   
He was all of sixteen. Anger preceded reason. 

His sword was stuck in a log when Rezo found him, and the youth was surprised by the question. Did he want to be strong? Of course he wanted to be strong. But… had he been vocalizing his wish?   
The transformation didn't take place in the forest. They'd walked back to the house, entering the network of caverns below. Rezo had taken him deep into the caverns, into a room where he could hardly see.   
He was told where to stand, and did so before he even thought better of it. He wanted to be strong. He wanted to put those fools who picked on his sister in their place.   
He didn't think of the consequences. 

A strange sensation had overcome him, and when he'd awoken, he'd had the memory of the forest, the changing of his body. And the anger that had been at the villagers was doubled and directed at Rezo. 

He sat up with a start, opening his eyes to the knowledge that Eris had been right, and jumped when her face moved into his field of vision. "Eris…?"   
Her voice was low, and the back of his mind registered the dangerous edge in her tone. "I want to know if you truly are my little brother."   
His blue eyes looked to hers, and with yet another shock, he realized that she thought he was fake. "I'm me, Eris. Really. You taught me to swim because you said that I needed to learn. You'd heard a rumor that some of the kids were going to try to drown me. So you came home from the middle of your class and showed me how to swim. You missed a test and I caught a cold."   
Eris' eyes softened, and she threw herself into him, hugging him close. "Oh… Zelgadis… forgive me for doubting you."   
He brought his arms around his sister, hugging her like he used to as a small boy who had nothing in the world but her. And when she returned the embrace, for a moment he was that small boy again.   
But a cleared throat made them both look over to the redhead who was on watch and had walked over. "You two should be asleep."   
Zelgadis felt his cheeks flush, and he looked at Lina with a rather forlorn expression that caught the sorceress completely off guard. "But… she's my sister. We were…" he glanced at a similarly blushing Eris. "Catching up."   
Lina looked at the two of them for a moment, and then just shook her head. Getting along with ones sibling was an alien concept to her, and she turned and started walking back to her watch post. "Just get enough rest, okay? You haven't been human for a long time, Zel…"   
Clear blue eyes watched the redhead as Zelgadis considered her words. She really was worried, wasn't she? He looked to Eris, whispering softly so as not to wake the others. "She's right, you know. I won't be of any use if I'm tired." He pointed to the chimera that was sitting quietly to the side. "Granted, there's always him…" It felt strange to say that, but Eris nodded.   
"I know. You'd rather not have to. I understand. We'll talk more in the morning. Good night, Zel…" She gave him that crushing hug of hers once more, and moved off towards her makeshift sleeping roll.   
Zelgadis lay back down, looking up at the ceiling above him, and wondered what he'd do now. He was human again. He'd privately doubted he'd ever find a cure… and hadn't really given much thought past that. Well, he decided as he closed his eyes. I'll do what Lina and the others do: take it one day at a time.   
And with that thought, he was sound asleep once more.   



	19. Chapter Eighteen

Dark Legacy - Chapter Eighteen

**Dark Legacy**   
**Chapter Eighteen**

  


Morning came more as a habit of waking, rather than the sounds of birds chirping and the light of the sun burning against closed eyelids. The little group shook off the last vestiges of sleep, and began packing up to continue on into the laboratory.   
None of them knew how quickly the laboratory would become Hell. 

Breakfast was a hushed event, eaten on the go, because Zelgadis had insisted they move quickly. So it was more waybread, and Lina for once, didn't complain. 

They came to an ornate door, and much to Lina's irritation, it refused to budge. She was about to blast it when Zelgadis reached out and touched the door.   
"It's one of Rezo's spells." There was a moment when the door glowed with a dull red haze, and then the light faded and the door opened. Zelgadis looked to Lina, and she smirked at him. With a slight shrug, he stepped into the room. 

Before Lina could get into the room after Zelgadis, the flare of a powerful spell blinded her and she stepped back in shock. But Zelgadis had just gone into the room… As Lina stood there, the brilliance faded, and she could see into the room.   
Surprise quickly gave way to anger, and she stalked through the door. "Zelgadis?!"   
As the others followed, Vrumugun's voice was heard in the dim room. "Oh… we don't have to worry about him anymore. That's the thing with humans. They're just so incredibly weak…"   
For a moment, Lina could feel her anger and despair feeding both the Mazoku before her and the Mazoku behind her. But it also taught her a very quick lesson: by keeping herself attuned to the emotion, she could track the Mazoku. Namely, she knew where Vrumugun was.   
She wasted little time in focusing that anger and pain, tracing the line to Vrumugun almost as if she could see it glittering in the darkness. She was only barely aware of the others spreading out in the room, looking for the Mazoku hidden in plain sight as she began to cast the spell.   
"How impressive of you to think that you can find me in here, Lina Inverse. It will be interesting to see just precisely what you hit." Vrumugun's voice drifted through the room.   
Sylphiel heard a voice at her ear, accompanied by a white glove pointing over her shoulder. In a low tone, the Trickster Priest informed her that a Dragon Slave aimed right over there would do quite nicely.   
Sylphiel could be called too trusting at times, except that she saw the direction that he was pointing was the same direction that Lina was aiming for. She clasped her hands. 

An Elmekia Lance fired out from Lina's hands, cutting across the darkness and making impact with what she knew to be Vrumugun.   
A Dragon Slave shot past a startled Gourry, dissipating in the same place that Lina's spell had, Sylphiel bravely hoping that she'd hit the right thing as she apologized to Gourry dear for casting the Dragon Slave so close to him. 

Amelia felt herself be grabbed from behind, and suddenly she was in the air above the chimera as an Elmekia Flame tore through where she had just been standing. Not to be outdone, as some part of her registered that she was being supported by Xellos, her own quick-and-dirty Elmekia Lance fired out and into the sphere of magical brilliance. 

The resulting magical concussion was enough to throw those of them on the ground completely off of their feet. 

Amelia was placed lightly on her feet, and heard the Trickster Priest's words, but couldn't see him. "Well… that went well. Even broke the pledge stone. I'm impressed. Don't mind me, I'll be along shortly."   
She had the distinct feeling that he was gone, so she started to cast a light spell. When it rose above her head, she looked around and saw the others slowly looking around. Except… 

Lina stood and walked over to the remnants of the human who had made the Pact with the Mazoku. It stood as the ultimate testimony to her as to what would happen when the pact was forcibly broken. She'd watched Halciform shrivel before her eyes, and Vrumugun was much the same. Shaking her head, she turned away just as she heard Amelia's horrified cry.   
She looked over, seeing Sylphiel and Eris dart over to Amelia and the still figure of Zelgadis on the floor. A chill hit her stomach as she moved across the room to look at the three girls and the chimera.   
As Sylphiel frantically cast spell after spell, Amelia looked at Lina with tears in her eyes. "Miss Lina…" She couldn't get the words out, but Lina knew.   
Somehow Lina gathered the reserves to whisper. "Stop, Sylphiel. You can't follow him. You can't go there."   
The silence that fell broke more than just one heart.   



	20. Chapter Nineteen

Dark Legacy - Chapter Nineteen

**Dark Legacy**   
**Chapter Nineteen**

  
  


The memory faded as Sylphiel hiccupped, and Lina shook her head slowly. By now, Sylphiel was too drunk to even notice that Lina wasn't. "Look, Sylphiel… healers lose their patients sometimes. It happens… and… and I don't think that he'd want you to do this to yourself…" _Oh, what the Hell am I saying? I'm no good at this, and it's Zelgadis I'm talking about! It's not like he was some stranger that we were trying to help…_ She could feel the uncertainty hitting, that feeling of impending despair right before one bursts into tears.   
Sylphiel half-focused on Lina's face, tears spilling from liquid blue eyes. "But Lina… you have… you have to unner…" She hiccupped. "Understand." She took a breath and focused on getting the words out correctly. "He wasn't there… he was… blank." She hiccupped the last word pathetically.   
The words echoed in Lina's mind, and quite suddenly, she saw it as clear as if it had been written in the air before her. For all she knew, it may well have been. All pretense of drunkenness aside, Lina exploded from her perch on the barstool, knocking it over with a clatter, and looked at Sylphiel with realization burning a new light in her eyes. "Shabranigdo's balls, Sylphiel! That's it! That's precisely it!! By Cepheid's blood, WE'VE BURIED THE COPY!!!!!"   
Sylphiel was too drunk to understand, and she only peered at Lina, uttering a less than intelligent "Huh?"   
Lina grabbed Sylphiel by the collar. "Don't you see? If he wasn't there, he was somewhere else! And somewhere else means he's still alive!!!"   
All of the shaking and the drinking was making one ill Sylphiel. "I'm… not… sure…" She hiccupped dangerously, and Lina scowled.   
"Oh no, you don't. I need you in one piece, Sylphiel." A recovery spell was unceremoniously cast on Sylphiel, and the result was the standard acceleration of regeneration. Which brought the mother of all hangover headaches suddenly crashing into Sylphiel's awareness.   
The sensation of going from drunk to hung over in less than a minute was more than Sylphiel could handle, and Lina almost didn't get the cleric out the door in towards a bush in time.   
As Sylphiel pulled herself together, Lina paced back and forth. "Eris should still be in the library… though I don't know anything about the Legacy that she was talking about… and I think I know where Amelia will be. Gourry's easy to find… come on, Sylphiel… we don't have the time for this!!"   
The still nauseated cleric was grabbed by the arm and dragged off towards the Royal Palace of Saillune. 

Eris was walking through the hallway with a notebook in her hand, calmly eating an apple as if nothing had happened and they hadn't buried her brother just that morning. She looked up to see Lina dragging Sylphiel into the hallway, and walked over as the two screeched to a halt.   
"Eris! He's not dead!" Lina started.   
Eris swallowed her bite of apple and held up the notebook. "I know. It's the Legacy. But we have to get back there soon, or we'll run out of time."   
Lina dropped Sylphiel, the cleric collapsing with a groan on the carpet. The sorceress wasted a moment in glaring at Sylphiel. "This is why I don't get drunk. Something almost always happens when you're drunk." She looked up to Eris. "You take care of her, I have to get Amelia." Taking off down the hall, she called over her shoulder. "Get ready to leave as fast as you can!" 

Lina wasn't at all surprised to find Amelia sitting beside the fresh grave. It didn't even surprise her to see the Princess crying. When she walked up, Amelia looked over to her and sniffled. "Come on, Amelia. We have to go. We buried the copy, not Zel."   
Amelia blinked in confusion, and Lina, running out of patience with almost everyone, grabbed her arm and started dragging her into the Palace. Amelia, however, managed to find her feet and was soon running along with Lina. 

As Lina had said, finding Gourry was easy, and they were gathered in the foyer, ready to depart. Lina had a vague idea where to go, but a voice caught them all off-guard.   
"Well, well. Look what I found just lying around…"   
Xellos stood there with a smug grin on his face, a very human and very unconscious Zelgadis on the floor beside him.   
Eris wasted no time in running to him, calling the words of an ancient spell that sent shivers down Lina's spine. Something about the spell…   
"Come now and claim your Legacy!" The next words Lina didn't understand, but it had an incredible effect on both Zelgadis and Xellos.   
Zelgadis sat up, and Xellos took about six steps backwards, looking at Eris in shock. "That… that phrase… It's not possible!"   
As Zelgadis brought his hand to his face, Eris looked over at Xellos and smiled faintly. "You just never saw the resemblance. Do you understand now? Rezo's power? The dark legacy that binds us all together?"   
Lina was completely lost. "What legacy???"   
Eris' voice was calm. "Rezo was the son of Juuou and Lei Magnus a very long time ago. That which gave him near immortality is our legacy, dark though it may be."   



	21. Finale

Dark Legacy - Finale

**Dark Legacy**   
**Finale**

  


Lina stared at Eris and Zelgadis, shaking her head. "I… I don't believe it."   
"Neither do I," Xellos admitted, "But I must. The grandchildren of Juuou… I knew that she'd had a son under the orders of L-Sama… but…" Something else occurred, and Xellos went as white as a sheet. "Your parents…?"   
Eris' expression was grim. "Our mother was a powerful shaman, Rezo's own daughter Masiko. Our father was a human who had made the Pact without her knowing. To protect us, she was forced to kill him."   
Lina blinked. _That means…_ But she didn't get the chance to finish the thought.   
"Don't worry, Mister Zelgadis! Even though you may be part Mazoku, you're still our friend! And I promise not to hold it against you if…" Amelia's voice cut off as Lina did something that she rarely ever did: clobbered Amelia upside the head in order to shut the girl up. There was a dangerous black cloud forming over Zelgadis' head, and if he really had the power of a Mazoku…   
"Zel…" Lina started as she kneeled beside her friend who looked all too human. "I don't care what you are… as long as you're Zelgadis Greywords… you're my friend. I mean, knowing this makes a lot of sense…"   
His upheld hand stopped her in her tracks. With a weary voice, he sighed. "I've been part Mazoku for so long in the chimera's body… what difference does it make now, right?"   
Lina bit her lip. She wasn't headed in that direction, but if that's how he wanted to feel…   
Zelgadis stood and looked at Xellos. "The next time you see my grandmother, pass along my regards… and tell her to stay the hell out of my life."   
Xellos blinked, then smirked. "Oh… I can tell her. But she doesn't always listen to me…"   
Lina just stood there, uncertain what to do. But then Gourry opened his mouth and saved her from having to open hers. "So… Xellos' master is Zelgadis' grandmother? Does that make Zelgadis a Mazoku?"   
Everyone including Xellos fell over. 

After everyone had recovered and Lina had beaten the knowledge into Gourry's head the hard way, an uncomfortable silence had fallen over the group. Finally, Lina made a decision. She'd refocus them by dragging them all immediately into another adventure. _And what better way than..._ "Well, we can't stay here and waste our lives worrying about what we can't change. And now that we don't have a cure to go chasing after, there's a few old temples protecting some really powerful spells nearby. And I intend on reading a few of those…"   
Lina was almost out the door when Amelia shrieked. "Miss Lina! Those are holy temples of Cepheid! You couldn't!!!"   
"Why not, Amelia? I'm just going to read them. I mean, someone ought to have the spells…"   
The door closed behind her.   
Six heartbeats passed as everyone looked at each other.   
"She won't like it when they tell her no…" Amelia whispered.   
"She'll likely blow the places up," Zelgadis conceded.   
"We should go with her and make sure nothing bad happens." Sylphiel decided.   
Zelgadis, Eris, Sylphiel, Gourry and Amelia sprinted for the door.   
Xellos grinned, and lifting his staff, opened his eyes. "Well… here we go again!"   
And then he too was gone from the room.   



End file.
